Garmin G3X EFIS Survival Tips

[Mike S]

Joe, to the good ship VAF.

Good to have you aboard.

What are you looking to build??

[JoeGepner]

Thanks Mike!

RV-7A is my dream bird. Acro, side-by-side to take my wife and kids up, wheel on the front so I can teach my kids to fly when they are old enough. Picked the 7 over the 14 to help keep things inside my tight budget.

I also happen to share an office with someone who is building a pretty incredible RV7 (his name starts with an "M" and ends with a "Burch"), so I figure I'll have some good guidance if I need help.

RVs are such amazing aircraft. I was lucky enough to get the famous "100 thousand dollar ride" in an RV-8A last year, and I've been saving up for my tail kit + tools ever since...

[BillL]

I just visited the Garmin website. Nice selection of videos, and surprise . . . . I see my panel in the custom panel slide show! N226WL.

Thanks for showing it.

[Mark12A]

I just spent just south of $200 and bought Garmin StreetPilot (for my car) and Garmin's new Heads-Up Display to sit on my dashboard. Is there, by any stretch of the imagination, any potential for some similar piece of hardware for aircraft?

[wjnmd]

While visiting the Garmin tent at AirVenture I spoke with Steve who told me a little about the Takeoff/ Go Around (TO/GA) button on the mock-up panel. I was trying to talk to Crister at the SteinAir booth as well as Steve at Garmin about how to wire this in and how it works. I have a dual screen G3X and a GTN 650 so could Matt, Steve or now maybe Jeff tell me a little more about how this works?

[Brantel]

The wiring for the TO/GA button is in the latest manual. It also includes the optional wiring for the GTN.

[g3xpert]

Originally Posted by wjnmd

While visiting the Garmin tent at AirVenture I spoke with Steve who told me a little about the Takeoff/ Go Around (TO/GA) button on the mock-up panel. I was trying to talk to Crister at the SteinAir booth as well as Steve at Garmin about how to wire this in and how it works. I have a dual screen G3X and a GTN 650 so could Matt, Steve or now maybe Jeff tell me a little more about how this works?

Hello Bill,

The following is excerpted from pages 309 and 331 of the current version of the G3X Pilot's Guide:

TO/GA (Takeoff/Go Around) Button

Selects flight director Takeoff (on ground) or Go Around (in air) Mode.

When properly configured with a GTN, if an approach procedure is loaded, this switch also activates the missed approach when the selected navigation source is GPS or when the navigation source is VOR/LOC and a valid frequency has been tuned.

GO AROUND (GA) AND TAKEOFF (TO) MODES

Go Around and Takeoff modes are coupled pitch and roll modes and are annunciated as both the vertical and lateral modes when active. In these modes, the flight director commands a constant set pitch attitude and keeps the wings level. The TO/GA Switch is used to activate both modes. The mode entered by the flight director depends on whether the aircraft is on the ground or in the air.

Takeoff Mode provides an attitude reference during rotation and takeoff. This mode can be selected only while on the ground by pushing the TO/GA Button. The flight director Command Bars assume a wings-level, pitch-up attitude.

A TO/GA button is a feature commonly found on "big airplanes" that we can now have on our RVs too. It's of most use for IFR flying, but I often use it in VFR as well. Simply put, pressing the TO/GA button gives you a wings-level, pitch-up flight director reference for takeoff (TO) or go-around (GA). If you have the TO/GA button connected to your GTN 6xx/7xx IFR navigator, it will automatically sequence to the missed approach procedure of the active flight plan. The pitch attitudes commanded in TO and GA modes are set to 5 degrees nose-up by default, and can be adjusted to suit your aircraft's characteristics.

You can see the configuration and wiring instructions for the TO/GA modes and the TO/GA button in section 17.3.6, 18.3.2.19, and Figure D-1.4 of the current G3X Installation Manual

- Matt

[wjnmd]

Thanks Brian and Matt. I'm working on my instrument rating so this will be a great tool. I can't wait to get it hooked up.

[hgerhardt]

Been flying with a dual-screen G3X now for about 3 months. One thing that I find a bit annoying are the terrain/sink rate alerts and the inability to easily acknowledge/silence them. Flying into airports like KSZP, which is in a narrow valley, you get constant alerts and it would be nice to easily silence them without having to go to the Terrain page to disable them.

Looking in the revK manual, I see on page 233 that you can press CLR to "acknowledge the pop-up and/or aural alert"...

OK, so I tried that: During/immediately after a terrain alert, pressing CLR on the MFD just does the de-clutter function on the moving map. Tried the PFD CLR button and it does nothing to silence the warnings. Just what function does "CLR" actually do if not temporarily silence the warning?

Heinrich

[g3xpert]

Hello Heinrich,

Pressing the CLR key while the terrain or traffic alert pop-up map is visible in the corner of the display will silence the alert for 30 seconds, unless another alert of higher severity is generated in the meantime. As you mentioned, you can silence terrain alerts for the duration of the flight with one simple softkey press on the Terrain page. You can also adjust the sensitivity of the terrain and obstacle alerting algorithms to suit your flying style by using the Set Up Terrain menu option on the Terrain page.

- Matt